health/fitness

A 23-year-old Florida man with asthma died this week, making him the first from his county to succumb to H1N1 flu, commonly called the swine flu.

Jason Christopher Schenck, 23, of Port St. Lucie, Fla. died Tuesday at St. Lucie Medical Center from the H1N1 virus, his family said.

Need a colonoscopy? That'll be $1,354 at Olmsted Medical Center in Rochester, Minn. -- or just $402 at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.

For the first time in the nation, a Web tool is offering health care shoppers a glimpse into what insurance companies pay on average for 103 common medical procedures, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced this week.

That "Freshman 15" syndrome you keep hearing about? Total myth, dude.

Study after study shows that first-time college students gain maybe 4 pounds to 6, tops -- in their first year away from home and without Mom-imposed food-portion control.

But that doesn't mean freshmen (and sophomores and juniors ...) make smart nutrition choices.

Randy Hetrick had a problem.

As a special-ops squadron commander deploying on ships, submarines and safe houses, he needed a way to keep his team in world-class shape without having access to world-class gyms.

For hundreds of thousands of Americans with failed kidneys, the days and weeks revolve around dialysis.

In most patients, the process of removing waste such as phosphate and urea from the blood means spending three to five hours on a machine at a hemodialysis center at least three days a week.

Midnight pizza pig-outs, frat parties, the freedom to play video games into the wee hours -- college students face a lot of temptations when they're on their own for the first time.

Now's the time to talk to teens about making healthy choices once they've left the nest. Here are some of the top health issues for college students:

Children with chronic respiratory problems and pregnant women are at the top of the government's priority list for vaccination against the new swine flu strain as it becomes available later this fall.

The Internet is full of information, oddities, porn and, now, thanks to a Web site developed by researchers and students at Carnegie Mellon University, a way for users to determine their chances of dying within the next year.

Obesity -- even a few extra pounds -- already is a known cause of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

Now there's evidence that excess weight shrinks the brains of elderly people, making them potentially more vulnerable to Alzheimer's disease, dementia and cognitive decline.

DID YOU KNOW?

About one-third of all employed U.S. adults typically do not take all their vacation days each year.

Workers in western states are more likely than those elsewhere in the country not to take all of their allotted time off. Four in 10 employed adults in the western United States leave vacation days unused.